Word count: 2632
This is a turn up. I've thrown my back out, I'm running a fever, and it took me ten minutes to write this sentence on my netbook while lying flat out.
Mourners are requested not to send flowers.
Friday, 5 November 2010
Quote of the day
Grammar is the logic of speech, even as logic is the grammar of reason.
Richard C. Trench
Thursday, 4 November 2010
A book in a month: Day 4
Word count: 2632
Another dismal day. That's because a) my cold is now full-blown and b) I had to slog my way through a scene I have no intention of keeping in the second draught. The next scene is more promising, but it was one I had to work on outlining before I sailed straight into it.
Another dismal day. That's because a) my cold is now full-blown and b) I had to slog my way through a scene I have no intention of keeping in the second draught. The next scene is more promising, but it was one I had to work on outlining before I sailed straight into it.
Quote of the day
The dark dangerous forest is still there, my friends. Beyond the space of the astronauts and the astronomers, beyond the dark, tangled regions of Freudian and Jungian psychiatry, beyond the dubious psi-realms of Dr. Rhine, beyond the areas policed by the commissars and priests and motivations-research men, far, far beyond the mad, beat, half-hysterical laughter... the utterly unknown still is and the eerie and ghostly lurk, as much wrapped in mystery as ever.
Fritz Leiber
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
A book in a month: Day 3
Word Count: 2309
Good grief, it's even worse than yesterday. Much too low a word count, though I hope to get a little more time later this evening.
One of the advantages of this book in a month exercise is that there isn't the time to go back and do any rewriting. It's a good thing because I've come to hate what I've written and I want to completely change the setting and the characters to make it more dramatic and faster paced. Now it feels like a thick block of exposition that I have to get through before the story really gets started. In normal circumstances, I'd be back to square one, but now I haven't the luxury, so I just make a note of how I want to revise it and carry on.
Good grief, it's even worse than yesterday. Much too low a word count, though I hope to get a little more time later this evening.
One of the advantages of this book in a month exercise is that there isn't the time to go back and do any rewriting. It's a good thing because I've come to hate what I've written and I want to completely change the setting and the characters to make it more dramatic and faster paced. Now it feels like a thick block of exposition that I have to get through before the story really gets started. In normal circumstances, I'd be back to square one, but now I haven't the luxury, so I just make a note of how I want to revise it and carry on.
Quote of the day
From my close observation of writers... they fall into two groups: 1) those who bleed copiously and visibly at any bad review, and 2) those who bleed copiously and secretly at any bad review.
Isaac Asimov
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
A book in a month: Day 2
Word Count: 1935
Here it is day 2 and I'm already hitting a speed bump. I'm coming on for a cold on a day when I'm faced with multiple distractions, there's an election on, and the dogs are aware that a) it's a nice day and b) I haven't taken them to the dog park in two weeks.
In the end, I had to flee to the public library for an hour's peace so I could bang out a mere 500 words.
Great. That's an extra thousand words I have to spread across the next 28 days. The important thing is that I didn't just blow off the entire day, so 30 percent success.
Here it is day 2 and I'm already hitting a speed bump. I'm coming on for a cold on a day when I'm faced with multiple distractions, there's an election on, and the dogs are aware that a) it's a nice day and b) I haven't taken them to the dog park in two weeks.
In the end, I had to flee to the public library for an hour's peace so I could bang out a mere 500 words.
Great. That's an extra thousand words I have to spread across the next 28 days. The important thing is that I didn't just blow off the entire day, so 30 percent success.
Monday, 1 November 2010
A book in a month: Day 1
Today's word count: 1410.
Starting a new novel on a Monday is never easy. Mondays are when the work week starts and there are always a thousand and one distractions. Worse, the first installment always takes more time than usual because I'm starting fresh and I have to establish the voice and ground rules for the characters. That means every hour stretches into two, with less time remaining for other work. But getting started is the important thing. After all, the novel that is never started is the one that is never finished.
Starting a new novel on a Monday is never easy. Mondays are when the work week starts and there are always a thousand and one distractions. Worse, the first installment always takes more time than usual because I'm starting fresh and I have to establish the voice and ground rules for the characters. That means every hour stretches into two, with less time remaining for other work. But getting started is the important thing. After all, the novel that is never started is the one that is never finished.
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